Victoria
Latest News * Victora has retired on January 13, 2009 after statements of her not retiring. She has posted on her MySpace: " It's been announced on WWE.com, so I guess I should address it. This Friday's Smackdown is my last match with WWE. I started with the company in 2000. I have had so many once in a lifetime experiences. It's been incredible. I was part of an era in Women's Professional Wrestling that will never be duplicated again. Choosing to leave was a very difficult decision. I think many of my colleagues considered me a "lifer". That is, they thought I'd be with WWE until I was old and grey. But I was not happy with the oppurtunities that were available to me within WWE. And at the end of the day, there are thousands and thousands of women who would kill or die for the chance to be a WWE Diva. It isn't right for me to fill that spot if my heart weren't in it. And I didn't make a rash decision to walk away. On many occasions I pushed for the Victoria that I'd want to watch. But we were on different pages. I respect their decisions, and they are their decisions to make. Being with WWE is very time consuming. And again, with where we were at, I would rather spend more time at home. I am a "lifer" though. That may not be WWE for life (although I will always be a fan). But I will always challenge myself. I am a competitor. As you can see from one of the pics in my photo gallery, I've been training in Jiu Jitsu. I started for the conditioning, but I have really excelled. It has crossed my mind to enter MMA. I've also been learning to DJ. I love music, and this girl has been getting her mix on. Of course I have the custom car shop, Black Widow Customs. And I haven't ruled out the idea of jumping back in the squared circle occasionally down the road. I am just so thankful for the experiences that I have had with WWE, for the great friends that I have made with WWE, and the best fans in the world that I have encountered because of WWE. So what am I doing first? I'm on vacation! I'm not going to say where I am, but it's warm, and I can look out the window and see palm trees, and I'll be here for a couple weeks. I have been getting bombarded with requests for interviews and appearances. As for appearances, you can contact me through MySpace for now. When I decide what direction I intend to take, I will acquire appropriate representation, and will pass info along to them. As for interview requests, several people have emailed me regarding "shoot interviews". I would like to say this. I am a fan of the Willy Wonka movie. I won a golden ticket. I was in Willy Wonka's Magical Chocolate Factory for nine years. If you're looking for an Everlasting Gobstopper, don't waste your time asking. It's not for sale. Finally, I want to thank all my MySpace Friends for your encouragement. I truly feel that we are friends, and I appreciate your support. I will keep blogging, and hope you all keep in touch. Later Sweet Potaters, Lisa Marie aka Victoria : )" Victoria Comments On Retirement From WWE, & More, Ryan Clark, Wrestling Edge. January 16, 2009. __TOC__ Videos Quotes On the WWE women's locker room: Lisa Marie Varon (born February 10, 1971), better known by her ring name Victoria, is a American female bodybuilder, fitness competitor and former professional wrestler, who worked for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). She is best-known for her appearances on its Raw and SmackDown brands. As an amateur bodybuilder, Varon won her first competition in 1995 as a middleweight. She then started competing in fitness competitions and won ESPN2's Fitness America Series in 1997. In 1999, she placed second at a fitness event in New York to earn her International Federation of BodyBuilders Professional Fitness Card. Through a chance meeting, Varon met World Wrestling Federation (WWF) performer Chyna who encouraged her to become a wrestler. She trained in the WWF's developmental territories for three years before being moved to the main roster to compete full time under the ring name Victoria. Only four months later, she was pushed to win the WWE Women's Championship, a title she has held twice in her wrestling career. Early life Varon was born in San Bernardino, California. She attended Eisenhower High School in Rialto, California. During high school, she was active in cheerleading, a sport she competed in since the sixth grade. During her senior year in high school, she was nationally recognized by the National Cheerleading Association, earning an All-American award for cheerleading and being chosen to cheer at half-time of the NFL Pro Bowl, alongside 70 other women. Varon also participated in track and field events in the ninth grade.1 After graduation, she studied biology at the University of California, Los Angeles and medicine at Loma Linda University, with career plans of becoming a physician.She worked as a Human Tissue Coordinator at the Inland Eye and Tissue Bank in Redlands, California, where she was involved in the process of organ donation. Bodybuilding and fitness competition Still working at the eye and tissue bank, Varon also became a personal trainer and taught aerobics. While training at a gym, she was offered an opportunity to compete in a bodybuilding competition, a contest she won as a middleweight. She competed in fitness competitions, such as ESPN2's Fitness America Series in 1997 and 1998, winning the former, and the Miss Galaxy Competition in 1998, where she met and befriended Torrie Wilson. After Wilson moved to Los Angeles, California and signed with professional wrestling promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW), she invited Varon to one of the shows. While backstage, an agent asked her to appear in a segment with Scott Hall. Through Wilson, Varon unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a contract with WCW. She later moved to Los Angeles to find work in televised news fitness segments instead. In 1999, she earned her International Federation of BodyBuilders Professional Fitness Card after placing second at the National Physique Committee Team Universe show in New York. It was during her time working in fitness competitions that Varon also first met Trish Stratus. World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (2000–2009) Training and debut After moving to Los Angeles, Varon worked as a trainer at the gym Crunch Fitness, where she met World Wrestling Federation wrestler Chyna, who complimented Varon on her appearance and encouraged her to become a wrestler. Varon put together a biography package and sent it to the WWF. She heard from Kevin Kelly two days later, who asked her for an interview in a month's time. With no previous wrestling experience, she looked up professional wrestling schools on the internet and trained at Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) in Southern California in June 2000. She wrestled under the ring name Head Bitch In Charge (HBIC) and appeared in a cheerleading outfit, with a snooty gimmick similar to WCW Nitro Girl Miss Hancock. She impressed WWE talent scout Bruce Pritchard during her first UPW show. Varon made her on-screen debut in the WWF portraying one of The Godfather's hos. She was referred to as the "head ho" and led the "Save the Hos" campaign. On the August 7 episode of Raw, Varon took a bump by being thrown through a table by The Godfather's next persona, The Goodfather. After this, she was given the name Victoria. She was removed from television in November and sent to WWF's developmental territory Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW) for extensive training. Victoria briefly acted as the commissioner for MCW and was involved in storyline feuds with Stacy Carter and Ivory. She also managed Steve Bradley before MCW closed. Varon later moved to Louisville, Kentucky to train in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) using the ring name Queen Victoria. She was placed as the manager of the tag team the Basham Brothers and managed one of the team members, Doug Basham, to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship on July 25, 2001. Women's Champion and alliance with Stevie Richards Varon returned to the renamed World Wrestling Entertainment as Victoria on the July 7, 2002 episode of Sunday Night Heat in an angle with WWE Women's Champion Trish Stratus, who Victoria claimed betrayed her when they worked together as fitness models. The storyline had her character become a demented, sadistic villain as she and Stratus feuded for months. At Survivor Series, Victoria was booked to defeat Stratus in a Hardcore match to win the Women's Championship for the first time. After a successful title defense against Stacy Keibler the next night on Raw, Victoria was attacked in the ring by Stratus. Steven Richards came to her rescue, starting an on-screen relationship between Victoria and Richards. Victoria continued to feud with Stratus into 2003, competing against her in successful title defenses and tag team matches during which Victoria teamed with Richards. At WrestleMania XIX, Victoria dropped the Women's Title back to Stratus during a Triple Threat match that also included Jazz. Throughout the rest of the year, Victoria was involved in matches against other Divas, such as participating in a Fatal Four-Way match for the Women's Title at Judgment Day and defeating Lita in the first women's steel cage match in WWE history on November 24. Victoria also defeated Ivory in a number one contender's match for the Women's Title on the last edition for Sunday Night Heat of 2003. After the match, Women's Champion Molly Holly struck Victoria in the head with the title belt.25 The next week on Raw, Victoria became a fan favorite when she attacked Holly after the two women were placed in a team, along with Miss Jackie, for a six woman Happy Holidays tag team match. Feuds; Vince's Devils The angle with Holly continued into the next year, with Victoria defeating Holly in tag team matches. On February 23, 2004, Victoria was booked to defeat Holly, Lita and Jazz in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match to win her second Women's Title. After defeating Holly in a tag team match the next week, Victoria was challenged by Holly to a rematch for the title at WrestleMania XX, which later became a Hair vs Title match. At the pay-per-view, Victoria won the match and shaved Holly's head bald. She kept the Women's Championship until June 13, when she dropped the title to Trish Stratus during a Fatal Four-Way match at Bad Blood and subsequently lost a rematch a week later. After defeating Molly Holly at Vengeance to become the number one contender, Victoria lost a match to Stratus at Unforgiven. Prior to Unforgiven, several of Victoria's matches were interrupted by a mysterious person in drag, who was later revealed to be Steven Richards, with whom she was previously allied. After the match with Stratus, the storyline culminated when Richards challenged Stratus' ally Tyson Tomko to a match, which Richards lost. On May 30, 2005, Victoria participated in a swimsuit competition, losing to Christy Hemme. Following the loss, the storyline had Victoria became a villain by attacking the other contestants, as well as host Jerry Lawler, claiming that she had enough of the attention Hemme was receiving.The two engaged in a short feud which ended at Vengeance in a match that Victoria won. Continuing with her villainous persona, Victoria was placed in an angle alongside Candice Michelle and Torrie Wilson (collectively known as the Ladies in Pink and later Vince's Devils) on August 29, portraying the role of the group's enforcer, as the three women joined forces against the 2005 Diva Search winner Ashley Massaro. Massaro was assisted in the storyline feud by Trish Stratus, and at Unforgiven, Victoria and Wilson were defeated by Stratus and Massaro. The angle continued into WWE Homecoming, where the Ladies in Pink lost a Handicap Bra and Panties match to Stratus and Massaro. On the March 6, 2006 episode of Raw, Victoria and Candice turned on Wilson during Candice's Playboy cover unveiling, starting an angle between the former teammates. A scheduled match was set to take place at WWE Saturday Night's Main Event on the March 18 edition with Victoria and Candice against Wilson and Stratus. As part of the storyline, however, on the episode of Raw prior to the event, Wilson was found unconscious with the implication being that Victoria and Candice had attacked her. The match eventually took place on March 27 with Victoria and Candice being defeated. The alliance of Victoria and Candice fell apart during a tag team match on July 17, in which Victoria and Mickie James were defeated by Wilson and Stratus, with Candice as the guest referee. SmackDown! and retirement Victoria was given a character push on November 27 after she was booked to win a number one contender's Divas battle royal. Following the victory, the angle had her carry a checklist to the ring which contained the names of other Divas. Each week she checked a name off the list after defeating them in matches. She also defeated Women's Champion Mickie James in a non-title match. Victoria lost the championship match at New Year's Revolution and a rematch on January 15, 2007. On June 17, Victoria was moved to the SmackDown brand as part of the WWE Draft. She became involved in an on-screen relationship with Kenny Dykstra, and the duo was placed in feuds against Torrie Wilson and Jimmy Wang Yang, as well as Michelle McCool and Chuck Palumbo. While on a tour of Europe with WWE in December 2007, Varon claimed to have legitimately broken McCool's nose. She later allied herself with her "best friend" Natalya. In October and November 2008, Victoria found herself on the losing end of matches with the debuting Brie Bella, when Bella disappeared under the ring during matches and reappeared seemingly "refreshed," eventually revealed to be Brie swapping places with twin sister Nikki Bella. Varon competed in her final WWE match on January 13, 2009, at a SmackDown! taping (aired January 16, 2009). She lost to Michelle McCool. Varon later posted a blog on her MySpace page confirming that she was retiring from professional wrestling. Personal life Varon has a Puerto Rican father who is a Vietnam veteran and a Turkish mother who was a singer in Japan. She grew up with three older brothers, all of whom became amateur wrestlers, with the oldest brother, Bobby Sole, winning a gold medal at the 1983 Pan American Games. In a running gag on his website, Lance Storm maintains that he and Varon are siblings due to them both having a widow's peak hairline. In an interview for the Sun-Sentinel, Varon was quoted as saying she was legitimately jealous of the 2004 WWE Diva Search winner Christy Hemme. She retracted the statement on her website, claiming the reporter had twisted her words when she mentioned that she was jealous of Hemme's paycheck, as it was a lot higher than what Varon received in her rookie year. Varon has made guest appearances on television shows V.I.P. and Nikki, as well as participated in two fitness competitions for the Univision program Sábado Gigante. She owned a restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky called Fat Tony's Pizzeria, but sold it in May 2007. She has since moved on to her next business venture, with the opening of her custom car shop Black Widow Customs on May 22, 2008 in Louisville. Varon has a tattoo of a heart on her ankle, which she got in high school and hid from her parents. She is a fan of motorcycles and owns a Suzuki Hayabusa. In wrestling :Finishing and signature moves :*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFH53YrR1D8 Widow's Peak] (Gory neckbreaker) :*'A-rack-nophobia' (Argentine backbreaker rack drop) :*'Black Widow' (Sitout inverted front powerslam) :*'Bridging reverse chinlock' :*'Hair-pull Gory special' :*'Military press slam' :*'Moonsault', sometimes while standing :*'One–handed cartwheel', followed by a hammerlock :*'Superkick' or a savate kick :*'Slingshot somersault leg drop' :*'Spider's Web' (Fireman's carry twisted and dropped into a swinging sidewalk slam) :Wrestlers managed :*Kenny Dykstra :*Damaja :*Doug Basham :*Steve Bradley :*Stevie Richards :*Natalya :Nicknames :*The Vicious Vixen :*The Black Widow :Entrance music :*Victoria used "Adrenaline Rush" until December 2002 :*From December 2002 – May 2004, Victoria used a modified version of "All the Things She Said" by t.A.T.u. :*From June 2004, she used a theme called "Don't Mess With" from the album WWE ThemeAddict: The Music, Vol. 6 :*Her last theme was a remix of "Don't Mess With" Championships and accomplishments :Debbie Kruck Fitness Classic :*Tall Class – 1st place (1999) :ESPN2 Fitness America Series :*1st place (1997) :*2nd place (1998) :Lifequest Triple Crown :*Top 20 (1997) :National Cheerleading Association :*NCA All-American Award :National Physique Committee :*NPC Inland Empire, Middleweight – 1st place (1995) :*NPC Team Universe, Tall Class – 2nd place (1999) :Pro Wrestling Illustrated :*PWI Woman of the Year (2004) :*PWI ranked her # 12 of the best 50 female singles wrestlers in the PWI Female 50 in 2008. :Women's Tri-Fitness :*Ironwoman Tri-Fitness – 4th overall (1998) :World Wrestling Entertainment :*WWE Women's Championship (2 times) External links and references *Victoria Official Myspace *Victoria profile at CAGEMATCH.net Category:American wrestlers Category:Female wrestlers Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:Total Nonstop Action Wrestling current roster